Compound engine



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H. O. REAGAN, Jr.

COMPOUND ENGINE.

No. 488,250. Patented Deo. 20, 1892'.

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COMPOUND ENGINE No. 488,250. Patented 139-0520, 1892.

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HARRY CLIFTON REAGAN, JR, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

COMPOUND ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 488,250, dated December20, 1892..

Application filed May 20, 1892. Serial No. 433,712. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, HARRY CLIFTON REAGAN, Jr., a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia andState of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Oompound Engines; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to compound locomotives, and its object is to avoidundue strain upon the cross head and piston rods, and to increase thepower of the engine. In compound locomotives having the high pressureand low pressure piston rods both connected rigidly to the samecross-head and at one side of the line of movement of the cross-head,there is a severe strain upon the crosshead, the guides and the pistonrods, owing to the unequal pressures. exerted by the two cylinders. Therocking motion imparted to the crosshead by these unequal and varyingpressures, rapidly wears the guidebars and gibs and is liable to snapoff the-piston rods. Moreover, this arrangement is wasteful of power,since the two cylinders do not act harmoniously or to the best effect.My invention aims to obviate these difficulties. It is accomplished byplacing one of the cylinders, preferably the high pressure one, on theline of motion of the crosshead, as in a single expansion engine, theother cylinder being placed at one side of the line of motion, andconnected with a lever by which its power is transmitted to thecrosshead.

The invention also consists in certain details, as hereinafter pointedout.

Figure 1 is a sideelevation, partly in section of my improvedconstruction. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section. Fig. 3 isalongitudinal section of the valves. Fig.4 is a side elevation of amodification. Fig. 5 is a vertical cross section of the same. Fig. 6 isa modifi cation.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the high pressure cylinder A is shownwith itsaxis in the line of motion of the cross head B, which slidesbetween upper and lower guide bars 0 O. The high pressure piston rod oris rigidly connected with the cross head in the usual manner. The lowpressure cyliuderD is arranged below, and is somewhat longer than, thehigh pressure cylinder. Its piston rod cl is connected with the lowerend of a lever E, which is fulcrumed at 6 upon the side of the boiler F,or upon an arm fastened to the smoke box F.

The connection between the rod d and the lever is preferably made asfollows: The crosshead B is rigidly bolted to a shoe Z) which encirclesthe lower guide bar 0, and has in its lower part a T-shaped slot orgroove in which is received the T-headed flange b of an auxiliary crosshead B which is thus suspended below the main crosshead and has anindependentreciprocatingmovementthereon. The low pressure piston rod clis connected with this auxiliary cross head B. E is forked and straddlesboth crossheads. In each cross head is fixeda transverse pin G G, theends of which project through vertical slots 6 in the arms of the forkedlever E. Brasses g g embrace the pins and slide in the slots, thusallowing for the slight vertical play of the lever on the pins as itoscillates to and fro. The pin G describes a longer arc than the pin Gwhich is the reason for making the cylinder D longer than the highpressure cylinder A. Links 0. b or other equivalent de vices may besubstituted for the slots and pins, if desired. By this construction thepower exerted by each cylinder is transmitted to the cross head B in theline of motion and at the point where the connecting rod H is attached.There is thus no tendency to rock the crosshead or to bring lateralstrain upon the guide bars or the piston rods. Moreover the lever Ebeing a lever of the second class, the power applied at G by the lowpressure cylinder is considerably multiplied at G. By thus providing foran increased stroke of the low pressure piston, I am enabled to get morework out of the steam Without complicating the mechanism. Furthermore, alever of this class enables both pistons to move simultaneously in thesame direction, which gives an easy movement, and

adds to the pressure of the steam the momentum of the pistons and pistonrods.

The lever When this improvement is to be applied to a locomotive havinglow wheels, so that there is not room to place the low pressure cylinderbelow the high pressure cylinder, I arrange the cylinders as shown inFigs. 4 and 5,the low pressure one being the upper. The main cross head13 slides on the lower guide bar, and the auxiliary cross head B on theupper guide bar. The connection between the auxiliary cross-head and thelower end of the lever E is by means of an intermediate lever or rockarm E fulcrumed on the pin 6 in a stationary bar I, which runs from thecylinder head to the yoke c of the guide bars. The upper end of the rockarm E is pivoted upon a pin 6 which carries brasses that slide insuitable jaws in the cross head B. In this arrangement the lever E maypass down inside of the upper guide bar instead of spanning it.

I propose to cast the two cylinders integral, and may unite in the samecasting the chambers for the two valves, and the steam supply andexhaust passages. But this makes a casting of such a shape that itrequires the frame to be bent inwardly and otherwise modified to enablethe cylinders to be properly located. Fig. 2 shows this construction,the upper valve K controlling the high pressure steam and the lowervalve L the low pressure steam. The valves are of the piston type andslide in bushings M in their respective chambers. The steam enters bythe passage 50 between the two connected pistons K forming the uppervalve, the lap of the valve being on the inside. The exhaust steam fromthe high pressure cylinder enters the clearance spaces at the ends ofthe valve chamber, and passes thence through openingsy to the lowervalve chamber. The valve L is tubular, being contracted in the middle toafford an annular space for the steam exhausting from the low pressurecylinder, which escapes by the passage s. It will be noticed that whenthe valve K moves back, as shown in Fig. 3, to admit steam to the backend of the cylinder A, the valve L moves forward to admit steam to theback end of cylinder D. Thus the valves move in opposite directions,while the pistons move in the same direction.

It is evident that my invention is capable of other modifications thanthe one illustrated, which do not depart from its spirit.

The invention is applicable to locomotive, marine, stationary, pumping,and other types of compound engines.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent 1s,

1. In a compound engine the combination with a high pressure cylinder,of a low pressure cylinder having a longer stroke than the high pressurecylinder and located at one side of the line of motion of the main crosshead, an auxiliary cross head sliding on the main cross head and a leverconnected with the low pressure piston rod and transmitting its power tothe main cross head, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the high pressure cylinder A of the low pressurecylinder D having a longer stroke, the main cross head B connected withthe high pressure piston rod, the auxiliary cross head B connected withthe low pressure piston rod and having a T- headed flange sliding in agroove in the main crosshead, and the lever E transmitting the power ofthe low pressure cylinder to the main crosshead, substantially asdescribed.

3. The combination with the cylinders A D and their piston rods a d ofthe main crosshead B and the auxiliary crosshead B, the forked lever Estraddling the main crosshead and having slots e, and pins G G receivedin said slots and rigidly connected with the piston rods a drespectively, substantially as described.

4. In a locomotive the combination with a high pressure cylinder, of alow pressure cylinder, having a longer stroke, separate cross headsconnected respectively with the piston rods of said cylinders, andsliding in parallel straight lines, a lever fulcrumed on a fixed pivotabove the cross heads, and connected with said cross heads by jointspermitting relative vertical movement of the lever and cross heads, anda connecting rod jointed to the cross head of the high pressurecylinder, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRY CLIFTON REAGAN, JR.

Witnesses:

H. O. BENDER, E. F. PEAcooK.

